START Project for Lee County schools underway
The Sanibel-Captiva Chapter of START (Solutions to Avoid Red Tide) has made great progress in producing an electronic teaching module to be provided to The Lee County School District to be used by science teachers to teach various topics on marine biology. Dr. Bruce Neill, who heads up the START team that is producing this teaching aid, presented the prototype for the module to the San Cap START board at its January meeting. Neill is president of the local chapter, on START s stare board of directors, and is the founder of the Sanibel Sea School.
Neill indicated that the project will include approximately 12, 22-minute electronic modules (pod casts) targeted for 7th graders, each covering a different topic on marine biology. For instance one of the pod casts will cover Micro Harmful Algal Blooms (HABS) which is the classification that Red Tide falls into. Each module will include a teacher section providing background information for the teacher and a student section that covers the topic in text, in video and includes interactive teaching tools such as a crossword puzzle to reinforce what the student has learned.
Like all schools across the country, The Lee County School system’s budget has been severely reduced due to budget restraints, which has resulted in elimination or reduction of teaching materials and programs and even teachers. Environmental sciences have been hit very hard and have few dollars to work with. The San Cap START chapter raised funds for this project at the San Cap Cracker Fest which was held Nov. 6, at the Bait Box on Sanibel. The prototype for this project has been shared with local teachers and they have expressed enthusiasm for forthcoming teaching modules.
Henry Naitchsheim, START board member, and owner of Sooncome on Sanibel, after seeing the presentation said: “Iif we have any hope for preserving our marine environment, it is vital to provide this kind of information to our youth so that they will become good stewards of these natural resources. They will also help educate their parents.”